Cibrarjo  of  t:he  t:heolo;gical  ^tminaxy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

Rufus  K.  LeFevre 


Ministerial  Salary. 

AN  ADDRESS, 


BY 


/ 
J.  ^VEA-VER, 

OF  BAL  T I  MO  RE,  MD. 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


MINISTERIAL  ASSOCIATION 

OF    THE 

Virginia    Annual    Conference, 

HELD   AT 

Bohrersville,  Md.,  Feb.  12,  1873. 


DAYTON,  OHIO: 
UNITED  BRETHREN  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

1873. 


\ 


BISHOP  WEAVER : 

Dear  Sir  : — Having  heard  your  address  deliv- 
ered before  our  Association  on  Ministerial  Salary, 
and  believing  it  is  calculated  to  accomplish  much 
good,  we  respectfully  solicit  a  copy  of  the  same 
for  publication. 

Signed  in  behalf  of  the  Association. 

J.  W.  HoTT,     ■) 
A.  M.  EvERS,    >  Committee. 
J.  Harp,  ) 

Rohrersville,  Md.,  Feb.  13th,  1873. 


REV.  J.  W.  HOTT: 

Dear  Sir: — In  compliance  with  the  expressed 
wish  of  the  Association,  through  you,  I  herewith 
send  you  a  copy  of  my  address,  trusting  that  at 
least  a  little  good  may  be  accomplished  by  its  pub- 
lication. J.  Weaver. 


MINISTERIAL  SUPPORT. 


Mr.  President  : — It  does  not  become  the  re- 
cipients of  numerous  gifts  to  ask  the  giver  why  he 
did  not  choose  some  other  plan  in  bestowing  his 
favors.  No ;  rather  let  them  receive  the  gifts 
with  thankfulness,  and  show  their  appreciation  by 
making  such  returns  as  they  can.  For  aught  I 
know,  God  in  the  infinitude  of  his  nature  might 
have  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through 
some  other  agency  than  that  chosen.  He  might 
have  communicated  his  will  and  purposes  to  man 
through  the  ministry  of  angels  alone.  But  the 
fact  that  he  has  not  done  so  is  conclusive  evidence 
that  that  would  not  have  been  the  better   way. 


6  MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT. 

What  God  sees  proper  to  do  is  and  must  be  eter 
nally  right,  no  matter  how  mysterious  and  inexplica- 
ble it  may  be  to  us;  "for  he  doeth  whatsoevei 
pleaseth  him,"  both  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth. 
He  is  the  Almighty,  and  we  are  only  as  the  fine 
dust  in  the  balance  in  his  sight. 

Through  the  boundless  love  and  benevolence  of 
God  we  have  received  the  gospel,  in  which  is  set 
forth,  in  the  clearest  possible  light,  our  duty  to 
God,  our  fellow-men,  and  ourselves.  It  comes  to 
us  as  the  only  star  that  ever  rose  on  time's  dark 
night — the  only  light  by  which  poor  man  could 
navigate  the  sea  of  time  and  make  the  port  ot 
bliss  securely.  It  comes  full  of  light  and  truth, 
richly  ladened  with  exceedingly  great  and  pre- 
cious promises.  It  is  Love  and  Mercy  speaking 
from  the  skies  to  a  lost  and  ruined  world.  With- 
out the  gospel,  the  whole  race  of  man  would  be 
wandering  in  the  dark  mazes  of  ignorance  and 
superstition.  Let  the  sun  cease  to  shine,  and  the 
moon  and  stars  withdraw  their  light;  let  thick 
dark  clouds  spread  all  over  the  heavens,  and  you 
have  but  a  faint  picture  of  the  deep  moral  dark- 
ness that  would  have  settled  down  upon  the  hearts 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  T 

and  minds  of  the  people  if  the  light  and  power  of 
the  gospel  had  been  withheld. 

We  are  not  left  to  guess  at  what  the  state  of 
things  would  be  if  we  had  not  the  gospel.  Mil- 
lions of  human  beings  are  now  living  who  have 
not  yet  received  it.  They  are  worshiping  they 
know  not  what.  Birds  and  beasts,  fishes  and  in- 
sects, and  even  devils,  are  deified  and  worshiped. 
It  has  been  tried  under  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, but  all  would  not  do.  The  ancient 
philosophers  often  tried  to  lift  the  latch  and  force 
the  way  into  the  regions  beyond,  but  all  to  no  pur- 
pose,— all  was  dark  and  uncertain.  Socrates,  with 
•ill  his  learning,  was  uncertain  as  to  the  future  state. 
When  he  was  near  his  end  he  expressed  the  hope 
that  he  should  go  to  good  men  after  death.  "But 
this,"  he  says,  "I  would  not  absolutely  affirm." 
Plato,  who  was  a  disciple  of  Socrates,  believed  as 
his  master  did.  If  there  was  any  happiness  for 
souls  after  death,  it  was  only  for  cultivated  souls 
such  as  philosophers.  Cicero  hoped  to  live  here- 
after, but  he  feared  a  total  extinction.  Almost 
everything  he  wrote  about  another  life,  had  for  its 
beginning  or  ending  that  cheerless  if.     **If,"  said 


8  MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT. 

he,  "  the  day  of  our  death  brings  with  it  not  an 
extinction  of  our  being,  but  only  a  change  of  our 
abode,  nothing  can  be  more  desirable ;  but  if  it 
absolutely  destroys  and  puts  an  end  to  our  exist- 
ence, what  can  be  better  than,  amidst  the  labors 
and  troubles  of  this  life,  to  rest  in  a  profound  and 
eternal  sleep."  Seneca,  when  speaking  of  that 
better  life,  says  it  is  "a.  kind  of  pleasing  dream, — 
an  opinion  embraced  by  great  men, — very  agree- 
able, indeed,  but  which  they  have  promised  rather 
than  proved."  Again  he  says:  ''Perhaps,  if  the 
report  of  wise  men  be  true,  and  some  place  re- 
ceives us  after  death,  he  whom  we  think  to  have 
perished  is  only  sent  before."  Again  he  says: 
''If  it  be  so,  that  souls  remain  after  they  are  set 
loose  from  the  body,  a  happier  state  awaits  them 
than  whilst  they  are  in  the  body."  Take  away 
that  cold  and  cheerless  "if,"  and  the  reading  would 
sound  well  enough. 

Compare  the  language  of  these  philosophers 
with  the  language  of  another  philosopher,  one 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  better  known  by  the  name  of 
Paul.  "We  know,"  says  Paul,  "  that  if  our  earth- 
ly house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  9 

a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens."  When  nearing  the  close 
of  life  he  wrote  a  letter  to  a  friend,  in  which  this 
firm  language  occurs:  "I  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand. 
I  have  fought  a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith :  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the 
Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at  that 
day ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  them  that  love 
his  appearing."  No  ifs  nor  buts  about  it.  He 
knew  what  he  knew,  and  no  mistake. 

The  gospel  comes  to  us,  not  with  cheerless  ifs 
and  dreamy  doubts,  but  as  an  anthem  from  the 
harps  of  heaven.  It  is  ''the  music  of  the  river 
of  life  washing  its  shores  on  high,  and  pouring  in 
cascades  upon  the  earth"  more  cheerful  by  far  than 
the  songs  of  the  morning  stars,  or  the  first  shout 
of  the  sons  of  God  over  the  plains  of  Eden.  The 
whole  race  of  man  has  gone  into  exile.  They  had 
wandered  far  out  upon  the  dark  mountains  of  sin, 
where  fearful  precipices  and  yawning  gulfs  stood 
ready  to  greet  them.  Not  so  much  as  the  evening 
twilight  of  truth  dawned  upon  them.     The  future 


10  MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT. 

was  all  wrapped  in  dread  uncertainty.  Far  away 
was  heard  the  rumbling  of  mighty  thunders.  It 
was  the  voice  of  Justice.  Nearer  and  nearer  it 
approached,  gathering  strength  as  it  rushed  on. 
One  moment  more  and  it  will  break  in  awful  fury 
upon  the  trembUng  multitude  that  stand  clinging 
to  each  other  on  the  very  brink  of  ruin.  Oh, 
alas,  alas,  it  is  all  over  !  Nay  !  just  then  one  star 
mounts  up  the  steep  of  heaven,  and  immediately 
there  was  heard  in  sweetest  accents  the  songs  of 
angels:  "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  good-will  toward  men."  But  for  this 
timely  interposition,  hope  would  have  forever  died 
in  the  heart  of  man. 

Now  when  Jesus  had  come  into  the  world  and 
gathered  about  him  a  few  disciples  he  said  to  them, 
and  to  us  as  well,  "Go  teach  all  nations;"  "go 
into  all  the  world;"  spread  it  far  and  near.  Tell 
them  "that  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave 
his  only  son"  to  die  for  them.  Tell  them  that  I 
was  rich,  and  for  their  sakes  became  poor,  that 
they  might  be  rich.  Tell  them  all  about  my  suf- 
ferings in  the  garden  and  on  the  cross.  Tell  them 
that  I  was  buried,  and  on  the  third  day  arose 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  11 

again.  Tell  them  that  a  fountain  is  opened  for 
sin  and  uncleanness.  Tell  them  that  all  things  are 
ready,  my  oxen  and  my  fattlings  are  killed.  Tell 
them — tell  every  one,  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low, 
noble  and  ignoble, — that  I  came  all  the  way  from 
heaven  to  prepare  a  way  whereby  they  might  es- 
cape. Tell  them  that  I  have  gone  to  prepare  a 
place  for  them;  that  there  are  mansions  and 
crowns  for  them  in  my  Father's  house.  Tell  them 
that  I  will  come  again,  and  bring  all  the  holy 
angels  with  me ;  then  all  who  have  loved  me  and 
kept  my  commandments,  I  will  receive  up  into 
glory. 

This,  in  part,  is  the  mission  of  the  church. 
And  to  carry  out  the  great  design  of  the  world's 
Redeemer  we  must  have  men  and  money.  Does 
that  man  live,  whose  heart  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God  has  touched,  that  dares  to  say  the  gospel  of 
the  kingdom  should  not  be  preached  unto  all  the 
-world?  Can  it  be  possible  that  a  Christian  lives 
who  is  unwilling  to  help  what  he  can  to  carry  for- 
ward this  blessed  gospel?  I  envy  not  the  heart 
nor  the  hope  of  that  man  who  is  too  stingy  to  give 
his  carnal  things  to  support  such  a  system  as  our 


12  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

gospel.  Away  with  that  religion  which  does  not 
first  rid  the  heart  of  the  love  of  this  world.  The 
very  soul  of  Christ's  religion  is  love, — all-powerful 
and  all-conquering  love.  It  controls  the  heart,  the 
will,  the  whole  man,  with  all  he  is  and  all  he  has. 
If  need  be,  he  would  give  even  his  life  for  Christ 
and  his  cause. 

When  God  calls  men  to  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, he  does  not  so  change  their  physical  nature 
that  they  will  not  need  material  aid.  They  are 
men  still,  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  fleshy 
subject  to  all  the  wants  of  a  common  humanity. 
They  can  not  live  on  air  alone,  nor  on  the  souls  of 
the  people  among  whom  and  for  whom  they  labor. 
They  must  have  bread  and  meat,  and  something 
withal  to  be  clothed.  To  meet  this  want  the 
Lord  Jesus  ordained  that  they  who  preach  the 
gospel  shall  live  of  the  gospel.  They  who  are 
taught  shall  support  the  teachers. 

The  duty  of  the  church  to  support  the  faithful- 
minister,  is  both  directly  and  impliedly  taught  in 
the  word  of  God.  In  Matt.  x.  lo,  Christ  said^ 
"The  workman  is  worthy  of  his  meat,"  and  in 
Luke  X.  7,   he  says,   '-'The  laborer  is  worthy  of 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  13 

his  hire."  In  these  passages  a  principle  is  laid 
down,  which  is  universally  allowed  to  be  just.  In 
every  department  of  business,  from  the  president 
down  to  the  scavenger,  it  is  allowed  among  honest 
men,  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire ;  and  none 
but  rascals  and  misers  attempt  to  defraud  the 
faithful  laborer  of  his  earnings.  In  these  pas- 
sages and  their  connections  we  can  not  be  mis- 
taken as  to  the  subject  matter  of  the  Savior's 
discourse.  He  was  about  to  send  out  his  twelve 
disciples,  and  after  giving  them  some  instructions 
respecting  the  nature  of  their  work,  he  directed 
them  not  to  carry  anything  with  them,  neither 
money  nor  clothing,  "for,"  said  he,  ^'the  laborer  is 
worthy  of  his  hire."  They  had  a  right,  a  divine 
right,  to  receive  a  maintenance, — enough  to  meet 
all  the  necessary  wants,— and  the  people  for  whom 
they  labored  were  morally  bound  to  furnish  them 
a  living.  And  what  was  true  then  is  true  now. 
He  could  have  given  them  power  to  create  bread 
and  meat  out  of  stones  and  sticks,  and  thereby 
sustain  themselves,  independent  of  the  people; 
but  he  saw  that  this  was  not  the  better  way,  and 
hence  made  it  as  much  the  duty  of  the  people  to 


14  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

support  the  minister  as  it  was  the  duty  of  the  min- 
ister to  preach, — both  are  divinely  authorized. 
This  is  the  only  reasonable  construction  that  can 
be  given  to  the  Savior's  language.  If  it  is  right  ta 
pay  any  man  for  his  labor,  it  is  right  to  pay  the 
faithful  minister.  He  gives  his  v/hole  time,  talent, 
and  strength  to  this  work,  and  should  receive  a 
living  support.  No  man  can  withhold  his  means- 
from  the  support  of  the  gospel  without  violating 
the  ordinance  of  God,  and  rendering  himself  un- 
worthy of  a  place  among  the  people  of  God.  Any 
and  every  person  refusing  to  give  as  the  Lord  has- 
prospered  them,  ought  to  be  excommunicated. 
They  are  not  fit  to  belong  to  the  church  of  Christ. 

''  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hireT  So  says- 
every  honest  man ;  so  says  the  civil  law ;  and  so 
says  the  divine  law.  The  faithful  minister  is  a  la- 
borer, just  as  much  so  as  the  man  that  builds  your 
houses,  makes  your  shoes,  and  plows  your  fields, 
and  is  just  as  much  entitled  to  his  pay  as  any 
other  laborer. 

I  will  next  call  attention  to  the  ninth  chapter  of 
First  Corinthians,  where  Paul  dwells  at  length  on 
this  subject.     In  the  seventh  verse  he  asks  several 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  16 

questions:  ''Who,"  he  asks,  ''goeth  a  warfare 
any  time  at  his  own  charges  1  who  planteth  a  vine- 
yard and  eateth  not  of  the  fruit  thereof?  or  who- 
feedeth  a  flock,  and  eateth  not  of  the  milk  of  the 
flock  ]"  All  these  questions  clearly  and  forcibly 
point  out  to  the  common  sense  of  every  man  that 
the  laborer  should  live  by  the  fruit  of  his  la- 
bor. Does  a  soldier  go  out  to  battle  at  his  own 
charges?  The  Roman  soldiers  were  not  only  paid 
in  money  for  their  services,  but  their  victuals 
were  furnished  them.  All  nations,  so  far  as  I 
know,  pay  their  soldiers  for  their  services.  What- 
ever else  Paul  meant  to  teach  in  this  place,  this 
one  thing  is  made  prominent,  that  ministers  of  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  are  to  be  paid  for  their  labor. 
They  are  to  receive  money  and  victuals.  It  seems, 
to  be  exceedingly  difflcult  to  educate  the  people 
up  to  the  notion  of  paying  ministers  a  reasona')le 
salary.  No  questions  are  asked  about  paying  law- 
yers, doctors,  school-teachers,  and  mechanics;  but 
the  preacher,  no  matter  about  him.  Some  think 
he  ought  to  manage  to  preach  for  nothing ;  others 
think  he  needs  but  little ;  whilst  a  few  believe  ia 
giving  him  a  good  support. 


16  MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT. 

And  lest  some  one  might  question  the  apostle's 
authority  for  saying  what  he  did,  he  asks  these 
questions:  "Say  I  these  things  as  a  man  1  or  saith 
not  the  law  the  same  also?"  Is  what  I  have  said 
only  human  reasoning'?  Is  not  the  very  same 
principle  taught  in  the  law?  Does  not  the  law 
say  that  "thou  shalt  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the 
ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corni"  This  law  you 
will  find  in  Deuteronomy  xxv.  4.  There  were 
misers  and  covetous  persons  in  olden  times  as  well 
as  now,  men  who  desired  to  have  their  work  done 
at  little  or  no  expense,  and  hence  would  muzzle  the 
mouths  of  oxen  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  eating. 
Moses  was  authorized  to  forbid  this  cruelty,  and 
thereby  instruct  the  people  to  be  kind  to  their  ani- 
mals as  well  as  to  their  servants  and  laborers. 

Now  hear  the  apostle's  reasoning  upon  this  quo- 
tation from  the  law:  "Doth  God  take  care  for  oxen? 
or  saith  he  it  altogether  for  our  sakes.  For  our 
sakes,  no  doubt,  this  is  written."  Is  it  likely  that 
God  should  be  solicitous  for  the  comfort  of  oxen, 
and  wholly  indifferent  to  the  comfort  of  man  ?  Is 
an  ox  better  in  the  sight  of  God  than  his  embas- 
sadors?    Paul  declares  that  this  was  written  for 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  Vj 

our  sakes — not  so  much  for  oxen  as  for  meft,  and 
especially  for  those  who  were  to  minister  about  holy 
things.  If,  then,  God  requires  us  to  feed  and 
take  care  of  animals  that  perform  labor,  is  it  not 
most  reasonable  that  those  who  give  their  time  and 
energy  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  should  be  fed  and 
clothed  ?  Now  whilst  some  men  are  cruel  to  ani- 
mals, especially  those  not  their  own,  others  are  far 
more  concerned  for  their  comfort  than  they  are 
for  the  comfort  of  their  ministers.  They  are  care- 
ful to  feed  them  well  and  provide  them  with  good 
shelter.  This  is  altogether  right,  provided  other 
tilings  are  equal.  God  cares  for  oxen,  but  he  cares 
for  man  also.  If  it  is  a  violation  of  the  law  of  God 
to  take  the  labor  of  an  ox  without  feeding  him,  it 
is  certainly  no  less  a  violation  of  the  law  to  take  the 
labor  of  a  man  without  a  just  remuneration ;  for 
**the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire."  There  are 
many  this  day  treading  out  corn  on  God's  spiritual 
threshing-floor,  whose  mouths  the  people  have 
muzzled.  These  are  plain  words;  but  I  know 
whereof  I  affirm. 

In  the  eleventh  verse  of  this  chapter  Paul  asks 

another  question  :     "  If  we  have  sown  unto  voui" 

2 


18  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

spiritual  things,  is  it  a  great  thing  if  we  shall  reap 
your  carnal  things?"  If  we  as  teachers  sent  from 
God  have  been  the  instruments  in  his  hands  of 
bringing  you  to  Christ ;  if  we  have  taught  you  in 
the  way  of  salvation ;  if  we  have  taught  you  in 
things  that  belong  to  your  eternal  interest ;  is  it 
too  much  for  us  to  expect  some  of  your  temporal 
things  ?  We  have  given  ourselves  entirely  to  this 
work.  We  have  given  up  our  temporal  pursuits 
— counted  it  all  loss.  Now,  have  we  not  a  divine 
right  to  expect  enough  of  your  temporal  things  to 
meet  our  temporal  wants?  We  are  your  servants, 
sent  from  God  to  labor  with  and  for  your  spiritual 
good.  We  do  not  ask  for  riches,  we  ask  only 
enough  to  meet  the  necessary  wants  of  ourselves 
and  families.  You  feed  the  ox  that  treadeth  out 
your  corn ;  you  pay  the  soldier  that  fights  your 
battles;  you  pay  the  physician  that  administers 
medicine  to  your  bodies :  is  it  too  much,  then,  to 
pay  those  who  give  all  their  time  and  strength  to 
labor  for  the  eternal  interest  of  your  souls  ? 

In  verse  thirteen  Paul  presents  another  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  ministerial  support.  ^'  Do  ye  not 
know,"  he  says,  ''that  they  which  minister  about 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  19 

holy  things  live  of  the  things  of  the  temple  ?  and 
they  which  wait  at  the  altar  are  partakers  with 
the  altar?"  Now  if  you  will  turn  to  Leviticus 
you  will  find  that  the  law  regulating  the  services 
in  the  temple  provided  that  the  priests  and  Levites 
should  have  their  support  whilst  employed  at  their 
regular  work.  The  priests  partook  of  the  sacri- 
fices, and  the  others  had  their  support  from  tithes, 
first-fruits,  and  offerings.  This  was  the  law  under 
the  former  dispensation,  and  the  apostle  carries  it 
forward  and  makes  it  a  law  in  the  new  dispensa- 
tion. "Even  so,"  he  says  in  verse  fourteen,  "hath 
the  Lord  ordained  that  they  which  preach  the 
gospel  should  live  of  the  gospel."  He  does  not 
say  that  the  Lord  ordained  that  those  who  preach 
the  gospel  shall  live  on  the  gospel,  but  of  it,  that 
is,  those  who  minister  about  holy  things  shall  re- 
ceive from  those  for  whom  they  labor  enough  to 
meet  their  temporal  wants. 

From  what  the  apostle  has  said  in  this  chapter, 
it  must  be  perfectly  clear  to  every  one  that  the  law 
and  the  gospel,  as  well  as  common  sense,  unite  in 
saying  that  the  faithful  minister,  who  gives  his 
whole  time  to  this   work,   should  be   supported. 


^0  MINISTERPAL   SUPPORT. 

3:hat  there  may  not  be  any  misunderstanding,  I 
'think  it  is  proper  to  state  distinctly  that  it  is  the 
.faithful  laborer  that  is  to  be  supported— -not  the 
drone,  nor  the  hireling,  but  those  who,  Avith  Paul, 
give  themselves  continually  to  prayer  and  the  min- 
istry of  the  word.  To  withhold  from  such  a 
decent  living  is  not  only  a  violation  of  the  divine 
ordinance,  but  is  a  sin  againt  God  and  a  com- 
mon humanity. 

An -eminent  writer  says,  "  Those  who  refuse  the 
laborer  his  hire  are  condemned  by  God,  and  good 
men.  How  liberal  are  many  to  public  interests, 
or  some  popular  charity,  where  their  names  are 
sure  to  be  published  abroad,  while  the  man  who 
watches  over  their  souls  is  fed  with  a  most  parsi- 
monious hand.  Will  not  God  some  time  abate 
this  pride,  and  reprove  this  hard-heartedness." 

"The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire."  But  take 
notice,  the  altar  should  not  support  those  who  do 
not  minister  at  it.  If  the  ox  will  not  tread  out 
the  corn,  ''let  him  be  muzzled,  or  sent  to  the 
common."  The  church  is  not  bound  to  support 
any  man  that  refuses  or  neglects  to  do  the  work  of 
a  minister.     Let  such  be  sent  to  the  common  to 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  21 

Jig,  or  beg,  or  starve ;  no  matter  which.  Of  two 
things  I  am  heartily  tired.  First :  I  am  tired  and 
disgusted  with  lazy,  inefficient,  drony  preachers, 
who  go  about  the  altars  of  the  temple  of  God  as 
if  they  had  neither  heart  nor  soul  in  the  work. 
Away  with  them,  and  let  us  have  men  in  their 
places  whose  hearts  and  lives  are  all  on  fire.  Sec- 
ond :  I  am  tired  and  disgusted  with  stingy,  cov- 
etous professors  of  religion,  who  will  not  give  to 
support  faithful  men,  in  proportion  as  the  Lord 
has  prospered  them.  Oh,  let  us  have  men  of  God 
in  the  pulpit,  and  men  and  women  of  God  in  the 
pews. 

Take  another  passage — Gal.  vi.  6.  "Let  him 
.hat  is  taught  in  the  word  communicate  unto  him 
;hat  teacheth  in  all  good  things."  Here  it  is 
plainly  and  clearly  made  the  duty  of  all  who  re- 
ceive instruction  in  holy  things  to  contribute  to 
the  support  of  the  teacher.  Dr.  Clarke,  in  com- 
menting upon  this  passage,  says,  "  We  do  not  ex- 
pect that  a  common  school-master  will  give  up  his 
time  to  teach  our  children  the  alphabet  without 
being  paid  for  it ;  and  can  we  suppose  that  it  is 
just  for  any  person  to  sit  under  the  preaching  of 


22  MINISffeRIAL   SUPPORT.  ' 

the  gospel,  in  order  to  grow  wise  unto  salvation 
by  it,  and  not  contribute  to  the  support  of  the 
spiritual  teacher?  It  is  unjust."  Paul  not  only 
requires  the  instructed  to  pay  the  teacher,  but  he 
is  to  communicate  in  all  good  things.  The  sup- 
port is  to  be  free  and  liberal — not  the  least  possi- 
ble amount  he  can  live  on,  but  all  that  will  be 
necessary  to  make  himself  and  family  comfortable. 

We  expect  to  pay  for  almost  everything  we  re- 
ceive, whether  it  is  food,  or  raiment,  or  labor. 
We  pay  our  physician,  our  lawyer,  our  school- 
master, our  blacksmith,  our  tailor,  and  the  com- 
mon laborer ;  and  it  is  right — so  says  every  honest 
man.  Now  is  not  the  faithful  minister  as  justly 
entitled  to  his  pay  as  the  tailor  and  blacksmith  ? 
If  not,  why  not?  Dr.  Haven  says  that  ''the  sal- 
aries of  the  clergy  of  the  United  States  do 
not  average  five  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  yet, 
as  a  class,  they  are  the  best  educated,  the  most  in- 
fluential, the  most  active,  refined,  and  elevated  of 
tlie  nation.  There  are  men  of  less  culture,  less 
character,  and  less  mental  power  all  over  the  land, 
who  earn  from,  one  to  five  thousand  dollars  a  year." 

I  wish  now  to  call  special  attention   to  a  few  of 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  23 

the  many  evils  grovving  out  of  an  inadequate  sal- 
ary. I  am  not  going  to  say  that  ministers  ought 
to  be  made  rich,  and  yet  for  my  life  I  can  not  see 
why  they  have  not  as  good  a  right  to  lay  up  a  lit- 
tle for  future  use  as  anybody  else.  They  will 
grow  old,  and  are  just  as  liable  to  get  sick  as  other 
men ;  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  there  is  but  little  pro- 
vision made  for  superanuated  and  worn-out  preach- 
ers, their  widows  and  orphans.  I  have  known  old 
and  worn-out  ministers,  who  had  given  all  the  best 
years  of  their  lives  to  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
that  were  within  a  step  of  being  paupers.  The 
people  generally  do  not  manifest  any  great  wil- 
lingness to  give  money  for  their  support.  About  as 
hard  money  to  raise  as  I  know  of,  \%  preachers  aid 
money.  Now  that  they  are  old  and  worn  out,  no 
longer  able  for  the  active  work  of  the  ministry,  the 
people  seem  to  say,  ''  Well,  let  them  go,  and  dig 
for  their  living."  But  hold  a  moment.  They  gave 
their  lives  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  All  their 
better  years  were  spent  in  laboring  for  the  elevation 
of  a  fallen  race,  and  they  were  the  honored  in- 
struments in  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  winning 
many  souls  to  Christ.     They  are  no  longer  able 


2A  MINISTERIAL   SUPPOft^fe. 

for:  the  active  work;  they  are  not  able  to- earn  a: 
hving  with  their  hands;  they  are  old  and  very 
poor,  with  scarcely  a  dollar  left  from  their  scanty 
salary.  What  are  such  old  worn-out  soldiers  to 
do  ?  Tell  me,  would  it  not  have  been  well  if  they 
could  have  laid  by  a  few  dollars  each  year?  It 
would  have  soothed  the  sorrows  of  old  age,  and 
made  their  passage  to  the  grave  more  cheerful  and 
happy. 

One  evil  growing  out  of  an  inadequate  salary  is^ 
that  it  necessarily  unfits  a  man  for  the  discharge 
of  his  several  duties.  Ministers  are  men,  very 
much  like  other  men.  They  have  hearts  to  fecl^ 
and  minds  which  can  be  depressed  as  well  as  oth- 
ers. Financial  embarrassment  will  give  them  as 
much  uneasiness  as  any  other  class  of  men,  and 
especially  those  who  have  a  keen  sense  of  the  del- 
icacy and  sacredness  of  the  office  of  a  minister. 
The  world  has  but  little  mercy  on  preachers. 
They  must  pay  their  debts  promptly,  and  never 
say  a  word  to  anybody  about  their  salary.  They 
must  make  their  number  of  bricks  whether  they 
have  straw  or  not. 

When  a  man  is  giving  his  whole  time  and  en- 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  ^ 

ergy  to  this  one  work,  and  has  no  income  save 
what  the  people  he  serves  has  a  mind  to  give  him,, 
and  when  he  sees  and  feels  that  it  is  not  enough 
to  meet  his  necessary  wants,  if  he  has  the  soul 
of  a  man  he  must  feel  depressed  in  spirit.  Does 
not  the  scripture  say  to  him,  as  well  as  to  others, 
that  if  he  does  not  provide  for  his  own  household 
he  has  denied  the  faith  and  is  worse  than  an  in- 
fidel ?  Now  when  he  knows  that  his  income  is  in- 
sufficient to  meet  the  real  wants  of  his  family,  it  is 
utterly  impossible,  under  such  circumstances,  to 
do  the  work  of  a  pastor  as  successfully  as  he  could 
if  he  had  a  competency  to  meet  his  current  de- 
mands. 

You  will  excuse  me  if  I  give  a  few  circumstan- 
ces with  which  I  have  been  acquainted.  I  have 
known  ministers  who  were  compelled  to  keep 
their  children  at  home  from  Sunday-school  be- 
cause they  had  not  clothes  fit  to  go.  Can  a  min- 
ister under  such  circumstances  urge  parents  to  be 
sure  and  send  their  children  to  the  school,  when 
his  own  are  sitting  at  home  within  a  stone's  throw. 
of  the  church?  The  man  that  can  do  this  with- 
out ablush  has  but  a.  small  stock  of:  parental  synir 


26  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

pathy.  But  the  law  of  the  church  requires  him 
to  do  it.  In  entering  the  Sunday-school  room  he 
will  see  the  children  of  parents  for  whom  he  labors 
comfortably  clothed,  while  his  own  ^re  sitting  at 
home  barefooted,  and  otherwise  poorly  clad.  Tell 
me,  is  there  a  principle  of  religion  that  will  raise 
a  man  to  such  a  hight  that  he  will  not  be  affected 
by  such  surroundings?  I  know  that  religion  will 
make  men  strong,  and  ready  to  make  personal  sac- 
rifices for  Christ,  but  I  know  nothing  about  a  re- 
ligion that  can  look  upon  others  in  want  and  not 
be  moved — especially  our  own  families. 

I  have  known  ministers  whose  families  had  not 
a  mouthful  of  bread  in  their  houses  for  two  and 
three  days  at  a  time.  Only  a  few  weeks  since,  a 
minister  told  me  that  while  serving  a  congregation 
in  a  large  town  his  family  had  nothing  to  eat  for 
some  time  except  a  little  bread  and  water,  and  a 
very  common  article  of  molasses.  Is  it  likely  that  a 
good  man,  with  a  kind  and  tender  heart,  could 
work  as  successfully  with  such  surroundings,  as  if 
his  family  were  comfortable? 

I  was  called  upon  to  dine  with  a  minister  who 
had  nothing  on  his  table  but  bread  and  butter  and 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  27 

•water.  He  said  it  was  all  they  had.  That  broth- 
er a  few  weeks  ago  fell  asleep  in  death.  But  you 
say  these  are  exceptional  cases.  It  may  be  so; 
and  yet  I  know  that  many  others  fare  but  little 
better  than  those ;  they  are  pressed  on  every  side 
for  the  means  to  meet  current  expenses.  I  believe 
in  close  economy, — save  wherever  you  can, — but 
I  do  not  believe  that  ministers  should  be  required 
to  do  all  the  economizing.  I  do  not  believe  that 
when  a  minister's  family  is  in  need  of  food  and 
■clothing  to  the  amount  of  five  dollars,  that  he  should 
■be  compelled  to  spend  several  hours  in  thinking  how 
he  can  make  three  dollars  reach.  Let  him  have 
enough  to  keep  himself  and  family  comfortable 
without  the  constant  anxiety  about  his  living. 
There  are  scores  of  men  that  could  accomplish 
twice  as  much  good  as  they  do,  if  they  could  be 
relieved  from  their  temporal  embarrassments. 

I  call  attention  to  these  circumstances  not  so 
much  to  stir  up  the  sympathies  of  the  people,  but 
to  induce  them  to  look  after  the  wants  of  the  pas- 
tor. There  are  among  ministers  at  least  some 
modest  men,  who  could  hardly  be  induced  to  ask 
for  money,  no  matter  how  hard  they  are  pressed. 


28  MINISTEfitAL   SUPPORT. 

They  may,  whilst  in  the  pulpit,  talk  boldly  of 
Christ  and  his  cross,  but  have  not  courage  to  ask. 
for  money.  I  believe  that  it  takes  more  grace  to 
ask  for  money  than  it  does  to  preach.  All  this 
trouble  and  mortification  might  be  spared  the 
minister  if  some  one  would  only  think  to  ask  him 
how  he  is  getting  along.  Indeed  I  would  not  care 
if  the  General  Conference  would  make  the  esti- 
mating committee  a  committee  on  finance  for  the 
whole  year — make  it  their  duty  to  visit  the  pastor 
once  or  twice  a  quarter,  and  make  special  inquiry 
into  their  state  of  things;  see  if  any  of  the  family 
are  barefooted  ;  examine  the  beds,  and  see  if  they 
have  covering  enough ;  go  from  cellar  to  garret, 
and  see  if  anything  is  wanting ;  and  then  ask  the 
minister  to  see  his  pocket-book.  Some  such  vigi- 
lance committee,  in  my  opinion,  would  be  a  grand, 
if  not  a  most  glorious,  institution.  Indeed  I 
would  not  object  to  have  such  a  committee  visit 
me  at  least  three  times  a  quarter ;  and  I  should, 
want  them  to  make  thorough  work  of  it.  No- 
doubt  pastors  and  their  families  have  often  suffer- 
ed want,  when  if  their  congregations  had  knowtt. 
it  they  would,  have  relieved  them  at  once.     Anoth*- 


MrNISTERTAL    SUPPORT.  "Sy 

«r  difficulty  in  the  way  af  -ministers  asking  for 
money  is,  that  the  people  generally  are  of  the 
•oj)rnion  that  they  are  a  little  too  much  inclined 
that  way  anyhow.  Perhaps  some  few  are;  but  the 
-vstst  majority  only  ask  for  money  when  they  are 
driven  to  it  by  sheer  necessity. 

Men  may  say  what  they  please,  and  think  as 
they  please,  but  the  man  does  not  live  that  can 
work  as  successfully  in  the  cause  of  Christ  when 
his  family  is  in  want  as  when  they  are  comforta- 
bly provided  for.  His  heart,  under  such  circmn- 
fitances,  must  feel  oppressed.  If  it  is  not  so,  then 
he  must  be  destitute  of  all  the  finer  feelings  of  a 
Imsband  and  father,  and  is  consequently  unfit  to 
take  charge  of  the  flock  of  Christ.  I  will  not  say 
that  during  these  seven  and  twenty  years  that  I 
have  been  in  the  itinerant  field,  that  I  know  by 
experience  that  these  things  are  true;  still,  I  know 
what  I  know,  and  am  sure  I  have  told  the  truth. 

But  let  us  take  an  inside  view  of  the  circum- 
stances of  a  pastor  and  his  family.  We  will  sup- 
pose that  his  family  consists  of  himself  and  wife  and 
tthree  children.  His  salary  is,  say  five  hundred 
dollars  a   year.     This  is  a  pretty  fair    average. 


30  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

Some  families  are  larger  and  some  smaller.     Some- 
ministers  receive  more  and  a  good  many  less  than 
this  amount.     Dr.   Haven  says   that  the  average 
salary  of  clergymen  in  the  United  States  is  con- 
siderably less  than  five  hundred  dollars  a  year.    But; 
we  will  put  it  in  round  numbers  at  five  hundred, 
dollars.     We  will  suppose  that  he  lives  in  a  village* 
town,  or  city.      Now  let  us  make  a  rough  calcula- 
tion of  his  necessary  expenses.     Fifty  dollars  to- 
clothe   himself,  seventy-five  dollars  to   clothe  his 
wife  and  three  children,  twenty -five  dollars  for  fuel 
and  light,  fifty   dollars  for  keeping  up  wear  and. 
tear, — bedding,  carpet,  furniture,  kitchen,  &c., — 
ten  dollars  for  stationery  and  stamps,  fifteen   dol- 
lars for  books  and  papers  (it  ought  to  be  fifty  dol- 
lars).     That  makes  $225.00.      Then    you   have 
$275.00    left    out  of  which  you   must  board  the 
family.     There  are  365  days  in  a  year.      Allowing 
three  meals  a  day  for  five  persons,  you  will  have 
5,475  meals  to  furnish  out  of  $275.00,  which  will. 
give  you  a  fraction  over  five  cents  a  meal  for  each . 
member  of  the  family.     Now  it  occurs  to  me  that . 
where  everything  is  to  buy,  it  will  require  prettj^ 
close   economy   to   furnish  meals   at    that   price. 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  31 

Then  you  will  observe  that  I  have  made  no  allow- 
ance for  meals  given  away, — and  preachers  have 
company  every  once  in  a  while;  no  allowance  for 
horse  and  horse-feed;  nothing  for  charity;  noth- 
ing for  the  missionary  cause.  Then,  too,  I  have 
supposed  that  the  minister's  wife  does  all  her  own 
work — sewing,  washing,  cooking,  &c.  No  allow- 
ance is  made  for  any  extra  expenses,  such  as  may 
arise  from  sickness  and  death.  Now  at  present 
prices,  it  is  my  deliberate  opinion  that  it  will  take 
some  hard  thinking  and  mighty  close  living  to  get 
through  on  that  amount  of  money.  Most  men  do 
not  know  what  it  costs  to  live. 

But  ministers  are  not  unfrequently  reminded  of 
their  want  of  faith.  They  are  told  that  they  must 
trust  in  God  and  do  good,  and  the  promise  is  that 
they  shall  be  fed.  Very  true.  Faith  is  a  power- 
ful arm  of  strength ;  but  Jesus  himself  could  not 
do  much  m  some  places  on  account  of  the  unbe- 
lief of  the  people.  The  Bible  speaks  of  a  faith  that 
will  remove  mountains  and  uproot  trees,  but  no- 
where, so  far  as  I  now  remember,  does  it  speak  of 
a  faith  that  will  reach  down  into  a  coveteous  man's 
pocket  and  get  out  his  money.     Some  men's  fin- 


^  IMimSTfiRIAL  suproiit. 

geis  Ifreeze  whenever  they  touch  their  pocket-book 
to  get  otit  moiiey.  The  Bible  nowhere  requires 
fhat  a  minister  is  to  be  supported  by  faith.  It  does 
say  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire.  It  does 
say  that  the  Lord  hath  ordained  that  those  who 
preach  the  gospel  shall  live  of  it,  and  that  no  man 
goes  a  warfaring  at  his  own  charges.  Here  I  am 
reminded  of  what  Mr.  Thoreau  once  said.  ''In 
r662/'  he  says,  ''the  town  of  Eastham  agreed  that 
a  part  of  every  whale  that  was  cast  on  the  shore 
should  be  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  min- 
istry. The  ministers,"  he  allows,  "must  have  sat 
on  the  cliffs  in  every  storm,  and  watched  the  shore 
with  anxiety."  "And,  for  my  part,"  he  says,  "  if 
I  were  a  minister  I  would  rather  trust  to  the  bowels 
of  billows  to  cast  up  a  whale  for  me  than  to  the 
generosity  of  many  a  country  parish  that  I  know." 
Prof  Park  says  that  "a  clergyman  in  Wales  was 
appointed  to  address  the  people  who  had  starved 
out  their  former  pastor,  and  were  now  to  receive  a 
new  one.  He  recommended,  in  his  address,  that 
Jacob's  ladder  be  let  down  from  the  skies  to  that 
Welsh  parish,  in  order  that  the  new  minister  might 
go  into   heaven   on   the  Sabbath   evening,   after 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 


33 


preaching,  and  remain  there  all  the  week  :  then  he 
would  come  down  so  spiritually-minded  and  so 
full  of  heaven  that  he  would  preach  almost  like  an 
angel."  But  the  people  insisted  on  having  their 
pastor  with  them  during  the  week.  "  Ah  1  but," 
said  the  speaker,  "if  he  remain  with  you  during 
the  week  he  must  have  something  to  eat."  I 
should  not  be  at  all  surprised  that  if  God  would  so 
change  the  order  of  things  as  to  take  mmisters  to 
heaven  during  the  week  and  let  them  down  on 
Sunday  morning,  some  men  would  give  a  tremen- 
dous shout  of  glory  to  God  for  a  free  and  heaven- 
ly gospel. 

Another  evil  growing  out  of  an  inadequate  sal- 
ary is,  that  many  good  men  are  partially,  and 
some  entirely,  driven  from  the  field,  insomuch  that 
they  are  completely  crippled  in  their  efforts  to  do 
good.  They  will  pray  a  little,  visit  a  little,  study  a 
little,  and  work  a  good  deal.  Some  of  these  men,  if 
they  were  properly  sustained,  would  accomplish  a 
vast  amount  of  good.  But  as  it  is,— pressed  on  every 
side  from  want,— they  retire  in  part,  or  altogether, 
from  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  I  am  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  a  number  of  such  men. 
3 


34  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

Do  you  say  they  should  have  held  on  a  little  lon- 
ger ?  May  be  they  should ;  but  some  of  them  did 
hold  on  until  want,  like  a  ghost,  stared  them  in 
the  face.  They  were  out  of  clothing,  out  of  mon- 
ey, and  I  was  about  to  say  out  of  credit,  for  some 
of  their  own  brethren  were  afraid  to  loan  them 
money.  What  could  they  do?  I  have  a  letter 
fresh  from  the  hand  of  a  brother  with  whom  I 
have  been  acquainted  for  twenty-five  years.  He 
says,  ''  I  am  compelled  to  resign  my  circuit :  the 
people  will  not  support  me.  What  shall  I  do? 
Dig  I  can  not,  and  to  beg  I  am  ashamed."  That 
brother  is  in  the  prime  of  life.  He  entered  the 
ministry  when  a  boy,  and  has  been  in  the  field  for 
many  years.  He  has  been  the  honored  instru- 
ment of  winning  scores  of  souls  to  Christ.  I  know 
the  people  among  whom  this  brother  labored. 
Many  of  them  are  rich, — worth  their  thousands 
of  dollars, — and  yet  would  rather  force  this  broth- 
er to  resign,  and  run  the  risk  of  losing  souls,  rath- 
er than  pay  him  a  reasonable  salary.  I  do  not 
say  it  is  wrong  for  ministers  to  work  with  their 
hands,  but  I  will  say  that  they  have  not  time.  The 
work  in  which  they  are  engaged  is  enough  to  fill 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  35 

their  hands  and  heads  and  hearts.  When  Paul 
saw  the  magnitude  of  the  work,  he  exclaimed : 
"Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?  "  I  have  had 
the  heart-ache  more  than  once,  when  I  saw  good 
and  true  men  driven  from  the  field.  Our  recent 
statistics  show  a  amall  decrease  in  our  itinerant 
ranks,  but  quite  an  increase  in  our  local  ranks. 
It  ought  to  be  the  other  way.  We  need  an  in- 
crease of  at  least  a  hundred  active  intinerants  ev- 
ery year.  The  principal  reason  why  our  intiner- 
ant  ranks  are  depleted,  and  our  local  force 
increased,  is  the  present  inadequate  salary.  Other 
men  are  now  halting  in  the  work.  Their  energy 
is  fast  dying  out,  and  they  v\  ill  most  certainly  quit 
the  field,  if  there  is  not,  very  soon,  an  improve- 
ment. I  would  not  be  willing  to  tell  you  all  I 
know  about  the  circumstances  of  a  good  many  of 
our  most  faithful  ministers.  If  you  knew  it  all  you 
would  not  blame  them  for  retiring  from  the  field. 
But  is  there  not  an  improvement  in  the  salary 
of  ministers  ?  To  be  sure  there  is,  but  not  in 
proportion  to  the  increased  expenses  of  living. 
Excuse  me  if  I  give  a  scrap  of  my  own  experience. 
Twenty-seven   years    ago,    when   I    entered    the 


36  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

itineracy,  the  salary  was  very  low.  During  the 
first  five  years  my  salary  averaged  one  hundred 
and  forty-one  dollars  a  year.  I  lived  well,  and 
saved  a  little  each  year.  But  living  was  cheap. 
Flour  cost  from  three  to  five  dollars  a  bc^rrel ;  meat 
from  two  to  four  dollars  a  hundred ;  butter  from 
six  to  ten  cents  per  pound;  potatoes,  apples,  cab- 
bage, just  a  fraction  above  nothing;  coffee  from 
eight  to  ten  cents  a  pound  ;  sugar  from  six  to  eight 
cents  per  pound ;  and  so  all  through.  But  it  is  not 
so  now  ?  Things  have  changed  ;  everything  smells 
of  money.  The  farmer  gets  more  for  his  produce; 
the  mechanic  gets  more  for  his  work ;  the  lawyer 
demands  a  heavier  fee ;  and  the  doctor  charges 
more,  no  matter  whether  he  kills  or  cures. 
Preaching  ought  to  advance  as  well  as  anything 
else.  If  not,  why  not?  That's  the  question. 
But  you  may  say  that  preaching  is  no  better  now 
than  it  was  in  former  times.  Neither  is  flour  and 
meat  any  better,  but  it  costs  more  money. 

Several  years  ago  I  visited  a  brother  that  had 
charge  of  a  mission  on  the  frontier  of Con- 
ference. He  was  doing  all  in  his  power  to  build 
up  the  cause  of  Christ.     I  inquired  how  he  was 


MINISTEBIAL    SUPPORT.  37 

getting   along.       He    said,    "Pretty  well;    some- 
times we  have  a  good  meal,  but  often   it  is  very 
scant."     His  wife  said  their  worst  trouble   was,  to 
clothe  their  children.    She  had  set  patch  upon  patch 
until  she  had  nothing  more  to  patch  with.     "Then, 
said  she,   "  I  took  down  a  pair    of  blankets,  the 
last  gift  from  my  mother,  and  thought  I  would  cut 
them   up  for  clothing;  but  my  heart   failed  me. 
I  put  them  away,  and  concluded  that  I  would  wait 
awhile  and  see  if  something  would  not  turn   up. 
A    few  days  after,  my  children  gathered  around 
the  fire,  shivering  with  cold,  and  the  oldest  one  of 
the  three  said,  "Ma,  I  am  afraid  we   will    all  die 
with  cold.     Look  at  little  sister,  she  is   getting  so 
thin  and  pale ;  and  I  believe  it  i^  nothing  but  the 
cold  that  makes  her  look  so !  "     I  took  down  my 
blankets   and   immediately   converted  them    into 
garments  for  my  children.      When  these  are  gone 
I  do  not  know  what  we  shall  do."      That  brother 
soon  after  left  the  intineracy,  and  was  lost  to  the 
church.     Ministers  ought  to  be  willing  and  ready 
to  suffer  for  Christ's  sake.     But  I  can  not  see  any 
virtue  in  suffering  from  want  in  a  land  of  plenty, 
and  among  those  that  are  abundantly  able  to  re- 


38  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

lieve.     I  see  in  it  more  downright  stinginess  than 
virtue, — more  of  the  world  than  of  Christ. 

Another  evil  growing  out  of  a  meager  salary  is, 
that  many  promising  young  men  are  kept  out  of 
the  ministry,  especially  out  of  the  itinerant  work. 
If  they  preach  at  all,  it  is  not  where  they  would 
prefer  to  preach.  But  when  they  see  how  poorly 
many  good  and  true  men  are  sustained  they  have 
little  heart  to  enter  the  field,  especially  when  other 
doors  ;  re  opened  for  them,  where  they  can  preach 
the  same  gospel  and  be  well  sustained.  I  do  not 
say  that  men  ought  to  be  controlled  by  such  a 
motive ;  but  men  are  men,  and  preachers  have  as 
much  JiHinanity  about  them  as  other  men.  They 
will  accept  positions  not  in  every  way  so  congenial 
to  their  feelings,  rather  than  to  be  continually 
harassed  by  financial  embarassment.  Preachers 
are  sometimes  accused  of  preaching  for  money. 
Perhaps  some  do,  but  the  majority  of  them  could 
make  more  at  something  else.  Bricklayers  in  Bal- 
timore get  five  dollars  a  day,  and  preachers  get 
about  two  dollars  and  a  half  per  day.  Any  man 
that  enters  the  itineracy  for  money  will  find,  long 
before  he  dies  with  old  age,  that  he  made  a  most 
shocking  mistake. 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  39 

"The  age  we  live  in  "  demands  a  class  of  minis- 
ters differing  in  some  respects  from  those  of  years 
ago.  The  demand  comes  from  the  people,  and  to 
meet  it  men  have  to  prepare  themselves  for  the 
work.  It  takes  time  and  money  to  prepare  for  the 
ministry  nowadays.  I  hear  it  said,  wherever  I  go, 
"  Send  us  such  and  such  a  man.  We  must  have 
a  man  that  can  stand  side  by  side  with  the  very 
best.  We  don't  want  a  man  that  will  be  a  laugh- 
ingstock for  our  school-boys  and  girls."  They 
say  that  the  preaching  of  other  years  will  not  do 
now.  This  demand  is  all  right.  I  am  glad  it  is 
so.  But  the  people  are  not  willing  to  pay  for  it. 
Now,  when  a  young  man  spends  his  time  and 
money  in  preparing  to  meet  this  demand,  and 
when  he  sees  that  the  people  are  unwilling  to  give 
him  a  living  salary,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  if 
he  will  go  elsewhere.  ''Ah,  but,"  one  says,  "we 
must  stand  for  principle,  dead  or  alive."  Very 
true,  but  there  is  a  great  deal  of  bread  and  meat 
to  help  one  stand.  If  there  is  no  principle  in 
beefsteak,  there  is  bone  and  muscle  in  it,  and 
something  that  will  steady  the  nerves.  School- 
teachers used  to  receive  from  six  to  twelve  dollars 


40  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

per  month;  now  they  receive  from  twenty  to  sixty 
dollars  per  month.  The  demand  is  for  better 
teachers ;  and  no  one  expects  them  to  teach  at  the 
same  price  they  did  in  former  times.  I  am  willing 
to  unite  with  the  church  in  the  demand  for  a  bet- 
ter class  of  ministers,  provided  the  church  is  will- 
ing to  unite  with  me  in  the  demand  for  a  better 
salary.     Let  us  have  things  equal. 

Another  evil  arising  from  a  meager  salary  is,  the 
dark  and  gloomy  picture  of  want  in  old  age. 
This  must  have  a  very  depressing  influence  on  the 
mind  of  a  minister.  When  after  ten  or  fifteen 
years  of  hard,  earnest  work  he  finds  that  by  the 
very  best  use  he  could  make  of  his  money  he  has 
nothing  left,  the  future  of  life  cannot  look  cheer- 
ful. His  health  may  fail ;  he  may  die  ;  and  what 
then  may  become  of  his  family  ?  Who  will  pro- 
vide for  them  ?  Will  the  people  do  better  fbr 
them  when  he  is  gone  than  they  do  now  ?  Then, 
again,  he  sees  old  men,  worn  out  in  the  service  of 
the  church.  They  are  poor,  very  poor.  They 
have  nothing  left ;  they  are  almost  paupers.  Alto- 
gether, the  future  that  rises  up  before  an  itinerant 
minister  is  not  such  as  will  tend  to  breathe  cour- 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  41 

age  into  his  soul.  He  sees  other  men — members  of 
his  own  congregation — providing  for  old  age,  and 
saving  a  Httle  for  their  children,  while  he  goes  from 
hand  to  mouth,  and  very  often  scant  at  that.  Tell 
me,  brother,  friend,  is  it  in  the  soul  of  any  good 
man  to  do  as  much  for  Christ  and  the  church  un- 
der such  circumstances  as  he  cojld  if  he  felt  sure 
that  the  necessary  wants  of  himself  and  family 
would  be  supplied  ? 

As  already  intimated,  ministers  ought  not  expect 
to  be  made  rich  by  preaching  ;  yet  if  they  would 
receive  each  year  a  little  over  and  above  their  cur- 
rent expenses,  it  would  certainly  be  no  sin,  and  if 
they  are  good  men  it  would  give  them  greater 
courage  to  work  on.  But  it  has  been  said  that 
ministers  ought  to  work  some,  and  earn  a  little  in 
that  way.  Well,  it  is  no  sin  to  perform  manual 
labor, — they  ought  not  to  be  ashamed  to  work, — 
but  I  re-affirm  that  they  have  not  time  to  work. 
Every  day  they  work  with  their  hands  is  just  so 
much  time  lost  to  the  cause  of  Christ.  Paul  says: 
"But  we  will  give  ourselves  continually  to  prayer 
and  the  ministry  of  the  word."  Again  he  says. 
"  Study  to  show  thyself  approved   unto  God,  a 


42  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

workman  that  needeth  not  to  be  ashamed,  rightly 
dividing  the  word  of  truth."  Now,  by  the  time 
a  minister  reads  and  studies  and  attends  to  his  pas- 
toral work  as  he  ought,  and  as  God  commands 
him  to  do,  he  will  have  no  time  left  'o  eithei- 
plow,  sow,  or  reap.  There  is  not  enough  of  any 
man  to  be  divided.  We  have  too  many  half- 
hands  now  in  the  field.  The  work  is  great,  and 
demands  the  whole  head  and  heart  and  lips. 

Just  now  we  need  a  whole  regiment  of  men — 
wholly  consecrated  men — to  go  into  the  field. 
*'  The  harvest  truly  is  great,  and  the  laborers  are 
few."  The  fields  are  already  white  for  the  sickle. 
We  need  whole  men,  men  of  great,  warm  hearts, 
who  will  strike  fire  at  every  blow, — none  of  your 
drones;  no,  away  with  them.  We  want  men  who 
can  give  their  whole  time  and  talent  to  this  work. 
It  seems  to  me  that  if  the  church  of  Christ  had 
men  and  money  she  could  take  the  world.  Ah, 
me,  if  we  had  just  a  few  regiments  of  such  men 
as  Barnabus, — of  whom  it  is  said  that  he  was  ''a 
good  man,  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  faith;  " 
and  then  a  church  like  that  at  Corinth,  that  went 
above  their  ability  in  giving, — we  could  soon  ex- 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  43 

tend  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth.  A  thousand  doors  are  stand- 
ing wide  open,  and  the  command  from  heaven  is 
to  go  forward.  We  are  to  be  co-workers  with  God 
in  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  If  the  church 
will  furnish  the  money  God  will  furnish  the  men. 
In  this  connection  I  wish  to  put  in  a  word  or 
two  in  behalf  of  the  pastor's  family.  The  pastor 
has  his  heart-aches  and  troubles.  But  he  is  not 
alone ;  his  family  suffers  with  him.  Most  of  the 
time  they  are  left  alone  in  their  poverty,  with  but 
little  to  make  them  comfortable.  If  the  minister's 
heart  is  as  it  ought  to  be,  he  must  often  feel  cast 
down  and  sad.  Do  you  call  this  a  weakness? 
Perhaps  it  is  But  wait  till  you  try  it;  you  may 
be  weak  too.  Sometimes  it  happens  that  the  mem- 
bers find  fault  with  the  pastor's  wife,  because  she 
does  not  manage  better.  Possibly  some  of  them 
do  manage  rather  poorly;  but  then  so  many  of 
them  have  so  little  to  manage  with.  It  requires 
vastly  more  skill  to  manage  with  little  or  nothing 
than  when  you  have  plenty.  Let  some  of  those 
complainers  try  their  skill  in  furnishing  meals  at 
'  five  cents  apiece  for  each  member  of  their  family, 


44  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

and  they  will  find  out,  i:>erhaps,  that  it  is  easier 
said  than  done.  I  am  somewhat  acquainted  with 
a  man  who  has  a  large  family.  This  man,  after 
deducting  his  other  necessary  expenses,  has  only 
about  four  cents  a  meal  for  each  member  of  his 
family.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  will  require  pretty 
careful  managing  to  get  through  all  right  on  that. 
But  it  must  be  done,  or  he  will  get  in  debt,  and 
then  the  whole  nation  will  be  down  on  him. 
Please  do  not  be  too  severe  on  ministers'  families- 
until  you  know  all  about  their  circumstances. 

But  this  is  not  all.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
during  the  absence  of  the  pastor  some  member  of 
the  family  is  sick,  and  perhaps  dies.  A  minister 
received  an  appointment  many  miles  from  home^ 
and  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  be  absent  sev- 
eral weeks  at  a  time.  He  had  a  little  daughter 
to  whom  he  was  very  much  attached.  On  leav- 
ing home  she  would  always  follow  him  to  the  gate 
and  receive  her  good-bye- kiss.  During  his  long 
absence  she  died.  On  returning  home  he  imme- 
diately inquired  after  his  daughter.  His  wife, 
with  hidden  emotion,  told  him  the  sad  story.  The 
strong  man  bowed  and  wept  tears  of  deep  sor- 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  .^^5 

row.  His  wife,  with  real  Christian  courage,  did 
what  she  could  to  comfort  him.  "  Do  you,"  said 
she,  "remember  when  you  left  home  that  our  little 
dear  followed  you  to  the  gate  1  I  have  been  think- 
ing all  the  while  that  when  our  work  is  done  we 
will  find  her  at  the  gate."  These  are  among  the 
trials  a  minister's  family  has  to  endure.  Pardon 
me  if  I  tell  you  I  have  gone  through  such  a  trial. 
When  many  miles  from  home  death  took  one  from 
my  hearth,  and  she  was  buried  two  or  three  weeks 
before  I  could  return.  Let  those  who  have  had 
some  such  trial  bear  witness  that  there  are  few 
sorrows  deeper  than  this.  Then  if  you  add  to 
this  poverty  and  want,  as  is  not  unfrequendy  the 
case,  you  will  have  a  picture  of  a  good  many  min- 
isters' families. 

But  is  the  church  able  to  pay  a  better  salary  1 
To  be  sure  it  is.  There  is  not  one  field  of  labor 
out  of  twenty  but  what  could  increase  the  amount 
they  pay  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  per  cent.  Do 
you  say  this  is  extravagant  1  Let  us  see.  How 
many  Christians  pcy  one  tenth  of  their  income  to 
the  support  of  the  gospel  ?  Is  this  too  much  ? 
That  is  what  they  used  to  pay,  when  under  the 


46  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

law,  and  nobody  died  from  it  either.  We  allow 
that  the  gospel  is  better  than  the  law.  Now,  it 
they  could  pay  one  tenth  when  the  light  was  neith- 
er clear  nor  dark,  it  would  seem  that  since  the 
day-star  has  arisen  clear  and  bright  men  ought  to 
do  as  well  as  they.  But  thousands  of  men  whose  in- 
come ranges  from  five  hundred  to  five  thousand 
dollars  a  year,  do  not  pay  one  thirtieth  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  gospel.  There  is  not  one  out  of  fifty 
that  pays  the  one  tenth.  I  asked  a  man  how  much 
he  paid  his  preacher.  He  said  that  three  dollars 
a  year  was  all  he  could  spare.  I  asked  how  much 
he  paid  annually  for  cigars  and  tobacco.  ''I 
reckon,"  said  he,  ''that  it  must  cost  me  fifteen, 
dollars  a  year."  How  in  the  world,  said  I,  can 
you  afford  to  spend  so  much  ?  He  hardly  knew 
how  he  did  it,  but  still  it  was  done.  This  is  the 
way  it  goes.  Men  and  women  can  manage  to  pay 
for  almost  anything  else  more  promptly  than  they 
can  pay  for  the  gospel.  When  it  comes  to  the  lux- 
uries of  life,  or  the  fashions  and  frivolities  of  de- 
praved society,  men  and  women  seem  to  think 
there  is  an  absolute  must  about  it,  but  when  it 
comes  to  the  support  of  the  gospel,  they  act  as  if 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  47 

there  was  an  absolute  ?io  difference  about  it.  The 
brother  says  I  must  have  my  tobacco,  and  the  sis- 
ter says  I  must  have  that  duck  of  a  bonnet,  no 
matter  what  it  costs.  An  eminent  divine  said,  ''I 
have  seen  a  woman  professing  to  love  Christ  more 
than  this  world,  clad  in  silks,  velvet,  and  jewelry, 
costing  in  all  twelve  hundred  and  fifty  dollars, — 
all  hung  upon  a  frail,  dying  woman.  I  have  seen 
her  at  a  meeting  in  behalf  of  homeless  wanderers 
in  New  York,  wipe  her  eyes  on  an  expensive  em- 
broidered handkerchief  at  the  story  of  their  suf- 
fering, and  when  the  contribution  box  came  round 
she  gave  twenty-five  cents  to  relieve  the  wants  of 
the  poor  sufferers.  Ah  !  thought  I,  dollars  for 
ribbons  and  pennies  for  Christ." 

An  old  Scotch  preacher  is  reported  to  have  said  ^ 
in  one  of  his  sermons  at  Aberdeen,  '*  Ye  people  of 
Aberdeen  get  your  fashions  from  Glasgow,  and 
Glasgow  from  Edingurgh,  and  Edinburgh  from 
London,  and  London  from  Paris,  and  Paris  from 
the  devil."  No  matter  whether  they  came  by  this 
route  to  America,  or  some  nearer  way,  certain  it  is 
that  Fashion  is  here  in  all  her  glory.  ''And  if 
you  wish  to  see  the  latest  fashions,  go  to   church. 


48-  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

Rustling  silks,  expensive  millinery,  jewels  and  gold 
abound  thera  The  want  of  such  trifles  has  kept 
many  an  otherwise  sensible  woman  from  church. 
How  many  souls  is  fashion  shutting  out  of  heav- 
en," Millions  of  dollars  are  paid  annually  by 
church  members  to  gratify  a  proud  heart;  but 
when  asked  to  give  money  to  support  the  gospel, 
they  have  little  or  nothing  to  give.  When  will 
Christians  learn  to  believe  that  it  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive. 

"  A  rich  merchant  in  St.  Petersburg,  at  his  own 
expense,  supported  a  number  of  missionaries  in 
India,  and  gave  like  a  prince  to  the  cause  of  God 
at  home.  He  was  asked  one  day  how  he  could  do 
it.  He  replied,  'When  I  served  the  devil  I  did  it 
on  a  grand  scale,  and  at  princely  expenses  ;  and 
when  by  his  grace  God  called  me  out  of  darkness, 
I  resolved  that  Christ  should  have  more  than  the 
devil  had  had.  But  how  I  can  give  so  much  you 
must  ask  God  who  enables  me  to  give  it.  At  my 
conversion,  I  told  the  Lord  his  cause  should  have 
a  part  of  all  that  my  business  brought  in;  and 
every  year  since  I  made  that  promise,  it  has  brought 
me  in  about  double  what  it  did  the  year  before,  so 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  49 

that  I  can  double  my  gifts  in  his  cause."     Bunyan 
said: 

"A  man  there  was,  some  called  him  mad: 
The  more  he  cast  away,  the  more  he  had." 

But  the  complaint  is  often  made,  that  it  costs  so 
much  to  support  the  cause  of  Christ.  Suppose  we 
admit  the  complaint.  Is  the  gospel  worth  what  it 
costs  ?  The  cost  of  an  article  or  an  institution  is 
not  always  to  be  determined  by  the  number  of 
dollars  it  requires  to  buy  and  sustain  it,  but  by  the 
amount  of  service  it  renders.  A  watch  that  cost 
five  dollars  may  be  dearer  than  one  that  cost  twen- 
ty-five dollars.  It  may  take  a  half  dozen  five-dollar 
watches  to  do  what  one  twenty-five-dollar  watch 
will  do.  Now  take  the  cost  of  the  gospel  and 
compare  that  with  the  amount  of  good  accom- 
plished by  it,  and  I  affirm  that  it  is  the  cheapest 
institution  in  all  the  land.  Men  talk  of  high  taxes; 
but  if  the  church  should  go  down,  and  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel  cease,  your  taxes  would  be 
doubled  and  trebled.  All  other  institutions  com- 
bined are  not  doing  one  tenth  part  as  much  to 
strengthen  the  arm  of  the  Government  as  the 
church  of  Christ.      If  that  should  fail,  salt-peter 


50  MINrSTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

would  not  save  our  nation  from  utter  ruin:  it 
would  go  to  smash  in  spite  of  presidents,  senators, 
and  judges.  We  pay  our  President  twenty-five 
thousand  dollars  a  year — and  he  is  cheap  at  that, 
members  of  the  cabinet  eight  thousand,  senators 
eight  thousand,  representatives  five  thousand, 
while  the  average  salary  of  the  ministers  in  the 
United  States  is  less  than  five  hundred  dollars  a 
year.  One  senator  costs  the  Government  more 
than  it  costs  the  church  to  support  sixteen  preach- 
ers. Talk  about  the  expense  of  keeping  up  the 
church  aixi  supporting  her  ministry,  and  then  look 
at  the  expense  of  keeping  up  the  Government. 
The  people  of  the  United  States  pay  millions  of 
dollars  more  each  year  for  liquor  than  they  do  to 
support  the  gospel.  The  city  of  Baltimore  sup- 
ports ten  to  fifteen  saloon-keepers  for  every  preach- 
er it  supports.  It  costs  thirty  millions  of  dollars 
annually  to  support  the  lawyers  in  America; 
twelve  millions  of  dollars  are  paid  annually  to 
keep  our  criminals  ;  ten  millions  of  dollars  to  keep 
the  dogs  alive  among  us,  while  only  six  millions 
of  dollars  are  paid  out  annually  to  support  six 
thousand  preachers.     Now  when  we  consider  the 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  -51, 

amount  of  good  that  is  being  accomplished  by  the-, 
gospel,  am  I  not  right  in  saying  that  it  is  the. 
cheapest  institution  in  all  the  land  ?  We  owe  al- 
most everything  to  the  light  and  influence  of  the 
gospel.  The  more  gospel  we  have,  the  better  it 
will  be  for  our  country.  ''It  is  a  rock  of  dia- 
monds, and  a  chain  of  pearls." 

Men  sometimes  say  that  they  would  not  give 
their  religion  for  the  whole  world.  I  suppose  there 
are  just  such  Christians ;  but  they  are  not  very 
plenty.  If  I  owned  the  whole  world,  and  wanted 
to  keep  it,  I  would  be  very  careful  who  bantered 
for  a  trade.  When  it  goes  so  hard  with  men  to 
give  a  few  dollars  to  support  the  gospel,  the  pre- 
sumptive evidence  is  that  they  would  sell  out 
cheap  for  cash.  A  good  deal  less  than  half  of 
this  world  would  buy  their  religion. 

A  popular  American  divine,  when  speaking  of 
the  mode  of  giving  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  says 
that  ''some  men  give  so  that  you  are  angry  every 
time  you  ask  them  to  contribute.  They  give  so 
that  their  gold  and  silver  shoot  you  like  a  bullet. 
Other  persons  give  with  such  beauty  that  you  re- 
member it  as  long  as  you  live,  and  you  say,    'It  is 


52  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

a  pleasure  to  go  to  such  men.'  There  are  some 
men  that  give  as  springs  do:  whether  you  go  to 
them  or  not,  they  are  always  full ;  and  your  part 
is  merely  to  put  your  dish  under  the  everflowing 
stream.  Others  give  just  as  a  pump  does  where 
the  well  is  dry  and  the  pump  leaks." 

All  that  is  necessary  in  order  to  support  the 
cause  of  Christ  properly  is  willing  hearts.  The 
church  has  money  enough,  but  there  is  not  a  cor- 
responding wiUingness.  When  God  asked  the 
children  of  Isreal  to  build  a  tabernacle,  it  is  said 
they  all,  men  and  women,  had  willing  hearts,  and 
gave  until  they  were  commanded  to  stop,  for  they 
had  brought  in  not  only  enough,  but  more  than 
enough.  Give  me  a  field  of  labor  with  one  hun- 
dred members,  in  moderate  circumstances  and 
willing  hearts,  and  if  I  do  my  duty  as  a  preacher 
and  pastor  I  will  be  well  provided  for.  I  will  get 
not  only  enough  to  support  myself  and  family,  but 
something  over. 

"Hohannes,  the  blind  missionary  of  Harpoot, 
tells  of  a  place  where  the  Board  had  spent  much 
money  with  little  result,  where  he  was  sent.  It 
was  a  poor  place.     The  people  were  to   raise  six 


MINISTEKIAL    SUPPORT.  53 

hundred  piasters,  and  the  Board  was  to  pay  the 
balance  of  his  salary.  The  people  said  they  could 
not  raise  that  sum.  After  much  anxiety,  the  mis- 
sionary laid  the  case  before  God  in  prayer,  when 
it  was  impressed  upon  him  that  each  should  give 
his  tenth.  He  proposed  it  to  the  people,  and  they 
agreed  to  it.  The  money  was  easily  raised,  and 
amounted  to  more  than  the  entire  salary.  That 
people  never  prospered  so  much  before.  They 
not  only  supported  the  preacher,  but  gave  two 
thousand  piasters  to  other  purposes." 

A  missionary  was  asking  for  help  in  spreading 
the  gospel,  when  a  negro  with  a  wooden  leg  came 
forward,  and  laying  down  three  parcels,  said, 
"That's  for  me,  massa,  and  that's  for  my  wife,  and 
that's  for  my  child," — in  all  thirteen  dollars. 
Some  one  asked  him  whether  he  was  not  giving 
too  much,  '•' Xo,  indeed,  God's  work  must  be 
done,  massa,  and  I  may  be  dead,"  When  men 
feel  that  God's  work  must  be  done,  then  it  will  be 
done. 

Oh  !  if  it  were  not  for  this  avaricious  love  of 
the  world,  how  the  cause  of  the  blessed  Jesus 
would  go  forward.     Soon,  very  soon,  the  wilder- 


54  .    MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT. 

.ness  would  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  streams  of  liv- 
ing water  would  break  out  in  desert  places.  There 
would  be  heard  in  every  land,  and  every  dialect 
and  language,  songs  of  praise  to  the  prince  of  the 
house  of  David.  The  wandering  Arab,  with  the 
teeming  millions  of  Africa,  would  pay  their  devo- 
tions at  the  altars  of  God.  We  should  soon  see  the 
twilight  of  the  millenial  glory.  If  the  Son  of  Mary, 
and  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  poured  out  the 
last  drop  of  blood  that  coursed  through  his  veins  to 
save  a  ruined  world,  where  is  the  man,  whose 
heart  has  been  touched  with  the  love  of  that  Jesus, 
that  is  unwilling  to  bring  his  gift  of  a  few  dollars 
to  help  on  the  blessed  work  of  reformation. 
Cicero  said  that  "  men  resemble  the  gods  in  noth- 
ing so  much  as  doing  good  to  their  fellow-crea- 
tures." And  there  is  no  way  under  the  heavens 
by  which  men  can  do  as  much  good  to  their  fel- 
low-creatures as  by  helping  to  support  the  gospel. 
A  few  dollars  given  with  a  cheerful  heart  may  be 
the  means  of  saving  a  soul,  and  helping  to  en- 
lighten many  others.  Sometime  ago  a  man  sat 
down  and  calculated  the  increase  of  a  dollar  at 
compound   interest,  and   found  that  in  less  than 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  55 

two  hundred  and  forty  years  it  would  amount  to 
more  than  two  millions  and  a  half  of  dollars. 
He  asked  himself  the  question  whether  God  would 
not  make  a  dollar  laid  up  for  him  grow  as  rapidly 
as  it  does  by  the  laws  of  trade. 

But  many  are  like  a  certain  rich  man  from 
whom  charity  was  solicited  as  a  loan  from  the 
Lord.  He  said  he  supposed  the  security  was  good, 
and  the  interest  liberal,  but  he  could  not  give  such 
long  credit.  In  two  weeks  the  dreadful  summons 
came,  "Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  re- 
quired of  thee."  The  God  whom  he  would  not 
trust  would  no  longer  trust  him.  There  are  many 
who  give  more  heed  to  the  priests  of  Janus  than 
to  the  apostles  of  Jesus.  They  would  drive  away 
the  ass  of  the  fatherless  and  take  the  widow's  ox 
as  a  pledge : 

"The  miser  comes,  his  heart  to  mammon  sold — 
His  life,  his  hope,  his  God,  his  all  is  gold. 
'  To-morrow,  and  to-morrow,'  he  will  say : 
'  Soul,  take  thine  ease,  for  thou  hast  many  a  day, 
Whose  smiling  dawns  will  make  thee  to  rejoice.' 
Hush  !  hark,  the  echoes  of  that  awful  voice ! 
Thou  fool!  This  night  yield  up  thy  earthly  trust ! 
Gaze  once  again,  his  treasures  are  but  dust ! " 

An  American  missionary  states  that  during  the 
almost  seven  vears  that  he  resided  in  Malta  he  was 


56  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

witness,  every  Monday  morning,  to  an  affecting 
and  admonitory  scene.  A  man  passed  through 
the  streets  ringing  a  bell  in  one  hand  and  rattling 
a  box  in  the  other,  crying  at  every  corner,  "What 
will  you  give  for  souls?  What  will  you  give  for 
souls  ?  "  The  women  and  children  came  out  of 
the  habitations  of  poverty,  and  cast  their  mites  in- 
to the  box.  Wlien  it  is  full,  it  is  carried  to  a 
neighboring  convent  to  pay  the  priests  for  praying 
the  souls  out  of  purgatory." 

Now  if  the  poor  deluded  people  of  Malta  will 
give  their  money  so  freely  to  have  souls  released 
from  purgatory,  what  ought  we  Protestants  be  will- 
ing to  give  to  save  souls  from  an  endless  hell  of 
torments  ?  Men  and  women  of  God,  what  will 
you  give  for  souls?  I  wish  that  I  could  put  this 
question  to  every  Protestant  in  the  land,  just  when 
they  kneel  down  to  pray,  or  when  they  are  gather- 
ed around  the  Lord's  table.  "What  will  you  give 
for  souls  1 "  Jesus  says :  "  I  gave  my  life  for  souls." 
Brothers,  what  will  you  give  ? 

If  Christians  valued  souls  as  God  values  them, 
the  faithful  minister  would  be  better  supported, 
and  our  missionary  contributions  would  not  only 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  57 

be  doubled  and  trebled,  but  quadrupled.  Ah  me, 
how  hard  it  is  to  get  men  and  women  to  see  and 
feel  the  worth  of  a  soul.  Rev.  John  Smith,  the 
mighty  Wesleyan  preacher,  used  to  say,  ''I  am  a 
broken-hearted  man ;  not  for  myself,  but  on  ac- 
count of  others.  God  has  given  me  such  a  sight 
of  the  value  of  precious  souls,  that  I  can  not  live 
if  souls  are  not  saved.  Oh,  give  me  souls,  or  I 
die."  When  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  was  on  his  dying- 
bed,  a  brother  minister  said  to  him,  ''Dr.  Beech- 
er, you  know  a  great  deal :  tell  us  what  is  the 
greatest  of  all  things?"  He  replied,  "It  is  not 
theology;  it  is  not  controversy;  it  is  to  save 
souls." 

But  notwithstanding  the  incalculable  value  of 
an  immortal  soul,  men  and  women,  by  scores  and 
hundreds,  who  profess  to  love  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  will  go  on  indulging  in  all  manner  of  ex- 
travagance. A  lady  gave  five  cents  in  a  mission- 
ary collection,  and  complained  that  the  calls  were 
so  frequent.  The  next  day  she  paid  twenty  dollars 
to  buy  her  daughter  a  fashionable  bonnet,  and 
thought  it  was  cheap  at  that.  In  the  midst  of  just 
such  people  the  minister  and  his  family  may  go 


58  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

half-fed  and  half-clothed,  no  matter  how.  Do  you 
say  these  are  plain  words  1  I  know  it ;  but  they 
are  plain  truths.  We  are  going  to  the  judgment 
— we  will  soon  be  there.  Are  you  ready  for  set- 
tlement? What  have  you  done  with  the  Lord's 
money  ?     Have  you  been  a  faithful  steward  ? 

Suffer  me  once  more  to  remind  you  that  I  am 
not  here  to  plead  for  a  slothful,  indolent  preacher. 
Send  him  home.  The  sooner  the  better.  We 
have  too  many  of  that  class  hanging  to  the  work, 
but  who  are  not  in  the  work.  Their  hearts  do  not 
burn  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
A  specimen  may  be  seen  wrapped  in  a  new  man- 
tle, seated  on  a  softly-cushioned  car-seat,  on  his 
way  to  conference,  engaged  in  conversation  with  a 
care-worn,  full-hearted  minister.  I  hear  him  say, 
*'We  had  a  good  time  the  past  year;  that  is  a 
very  pleasant  circuit ;  the  appointments  are  close 
together ;  and  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  report  to 
conference  that  we  have  held  our  own."  I  can 
see  the  spirit  of  the  great  and  good  Otterbein  look- 
ing out  from  its  starry  home  to  inquire  if  such  a 
man  is  a  true  son  of  the  church  ?  He  certainly  is 
not.     The  mass  of  our  ministers  possess  the  true 


MINISTERIAL   SUPPORT.  69 

spirit  of  Christian  aggression.  Their  lives  lie  day 
and  night  on  the  altar  of  the  Master.  They  give 
their  whole  time  and  power  to  the  winning  of  souls 
to  Jesus.  And  as  this  vast  army  is  marshaling  to 
take  the  world  for  Christ,  the  cry  issues  from  above 
for  men  in  the  laity  who  are  ready  with  their  hearts 
and  lives  to  exclaim,  "  I  can  spare  one  quarter  of  a 
year's  earnings  to  extend  his  kingdom  on  earth." 
Brethren  in  the  ministry,  a  few  words  and  I  shall 
l)e  done.  The  field  is  before  you.  The  harvest  is 
fully  ripe.  Souls  are  perishing  every  day.  We 
must  not  tarry.  There  are  steep  and  rugged 
mountains  to  climb,  and  many  broad  rivers  to 
cross.  This  is  a  cold  and  cheerless  world.  The 
work  in  which  you  are  engaged  is  not  such  as  will 
<:ommend  itself  to  the  men  of  this  world.  You 
must  expect  many  repulses — many  hard  battles 
must  be  fought.  If  you  are  true  to  your  trust  you 
will  have  hard  work  and  plenty  of  it.  You  may 
die  poor,  very  poor.  I  can  not  guaranty  that  you 
will  have  a  dollar  to  leave  to  your  family.  Judg- 
ing the  future  from  the  past,  this  is  about  what  you 
may  expect.  You  may  die  away  from  home,  as  a  good 
many  others  have  done.     But  there  is  a  brighter 


60  MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT. 

side  of  the  question.  Jesus  said,  I  will  go  with 
you  and  help  you.  I  will  never  leave  nor  forsake 
you.  I  am  more  than  all  that  can  be  against.  I 
will  open  the  way  before  you,  and  give  you  suc- 
cess in  winning  souls  from  destruction.  Brethren, 
there  is  a  hereafter — there  is  a  blessed  by  and  by, 
We  will  all  be  rich  some  time — may  be  to-morrow 
or  the  day  following.  Aha,  there  are  no  circuits, 
missions,  nor  districts  to  travel  at  home.  'Twill 
all  be  over  soon.  The  morning  cometh :  I  can 
almost  see  the  glimmering  light  on  the  distant 
mountain  peaks.  Heard  you  that  sound  ?  'Twas 
the  voice  of  the  bride-groom.  Behold,  he  com- 
eth.    All  hail. 

The  last  words  of  Rev.  Joseph  Everett  were, 
''glory,  glory,  glory." 

Dr.  Judson  said  :  "I  am  not  tired  of  my  work, 
neither  am  I  tired  of  the  world ;  yet  when  Christ 
calls  me  home  I  shall  go  with  the  gladness  of  a 
boy  bounding  away  from  school." 

J.  Parsons  said :  "  When  I  get  to  glory  I  will 
make  heaven  ring  with  my  voice,  and  wave  my 
palm  over  the  heads  of  the  saints  crying,  ''  victory, 
victory,  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb." 


MINISTERIAL    SUPPORT.  61 

JohnPayson:  ''I  know  I  am  dying.  Heaven 
is  already  begun.  Everlasting  life  is  won.  I  die 
a  safe,  easy  death.  Precious  Jesus.  Glory  be  to 
God." 

Robert  Newton  said  :  "Christ  Jesus,  the  savior 
of  sinners  and  life  of  the  dead.  I  am  going  to 
glory  !  Farewell,  sin  !  Farewell,  death  !  Praise 
the  Lord." 

John  Fletcher  said:  "Oh!  how  this  soul  of 
mine  longs  to  be  gone,  like  a  bird  out  of  his  cage, 
to  the  realms  of  bliss.  Oh  !  that  some  guardian 
angel  might  be  commissioned,  for  I  long  to  be  ab- 
sent from  the  body." 

Brethren  beloved,  some  such  hour  of  victory 
awaits  you,  if  you  are  faithful.  Stick  to  the  ship 
if  you  can.  Hard  work  and  slim  pay  now;  but 
look  up,  it  will  all  be  right  in  the  morning. 

"Not  in  this  weary  world  of  ours 
Can  perfect  rest  be  foumd  ; 
Thorns  mingle  with  its  fairest  flowers 
Even  on  cultured  ground  ; 
Earth's  pilgrim  still  his  loins  must  gird 
To  seek  a  lot  more  blest ; 
And  this  must  be  his  onward  word — 
*In  heaven  alone  is  rest! '  " 


m 


